Archive for December, 2006

The 7-11 Rule Revisited

Sunday, December 31st, 2006 by Chief Nut

I’ve heard an old marketing adage that “people pass along stories of good service 7 times but will pass along stories of poor service 11 times.” I don’t know where these stats come from but they certainly seem logical. I know it roughly holds true for me. This commentary about the effects of customer service on how apt a consumer is to pass along a story is, however, quite old. More to the point, it doesn’t consider the effect of said consumers using the Internet as their voice. Consider the effect of this ONE story about a run-in at a local Best Buy and how it impacts readers world wide on their buying decisions. Possibly more important, how does a story like this effect the strength of a corporate brand? I suspect that the bad will still spread faster than the good, except now, the speed at which both travel is a couple of powers of 10 greater in magnitude.

Acorn Tat Anyone?

Sunday, December 31st, 2006 by Chief Nut

The strength of your brand can indeed be measured by the level of passions stirred within your audience.  Are people ready to tattoo your logo on a visible part of their body? … or a hidden one, for that matter?!  Some brands do fan the flame of brand passion to this degree.  Read about brand brands.

It’s the Little Things That Matter

Friday, December 29th, 2006 by Chief Nut

We call it micro-content. First, open up a web page. Then, close your eyes and back away from your desk 4 or 5 feet (don’t knock over your printer or that plant stand behind you). Open your eyes and start absorbing the contents of the page for 5 seconds. QUICK, close your eyes! OK, what did you reaaalllly see? Here’s a likely scenario …

  • First you saw the logo/company name in the upper left (we read from top to bottom, left to right, yes?)
  • Next, your eyes likely popped over or down to a large headline or a large prominent image
  • After that, the next image or sub-header
  • Finally, your eyes will scan hyper links, text with a color other than black and titles on images

All of this is the most important information on your site! Now, ask yourself these questions:

  • If a visitor does this for YOUR home page, what do they feel?
  • Do they know exactly what you do with only this information?
  • Does this information connect with your visitors?
  • Is there a call to action?
  • Are visitors engaged enough to want to click through for more information?

If none of this holds true, you’re going to have very poor results with that page. Here’s a great tip from Anita Campbell about how to get people to read instead of skim.” It’s all about the micro-content!

GO NUTS in 2007!

Thursday, December 28th, 2006 by Chief Nut

Here’s a press release from Acorn Creative and Epiphanies, Inc………

Local Companies Partner to Help Small Businesses and Service Professionals Sharpen Their Marketing in 2007

The New Year offers small businesses a chance to refresh their focus, correct past mistakes, and set a bold new course to improve their performance. Two local companies, Acorn Creative of Laconia and Epiphanies, Inc. of Gilford, recently partnered up to help businesses start 2007 on the right track.

The result of their collaboration debuted Tuesday, December 19th. “The Secret to Making Your Business Go Nuts in 2007″ is a free special report offered by the two companies as a PDF download from their website, www.gonutsin2007.com.

“A lot of small businesses told us 2006 didn’t go as well as they’d hoped,” said Lani Voivod of Epiphanies, Inc. “Now that 2007’s right on top of us, we wanted to help business owners and solo professionals get off to a great start.”

Acorn and Epiphanies combined their complementary skills and service offerings to create the special report. Acorn performs brand consulting, graphic design, and website development. Epiphanies specializes in idea generation, information product creation, and integrated marketing strategies.

“When businesses come to us for a new website, a new brochure, or a new direct mail piece, we like to step back and look at the bigger picture,” said Kevin Skarritt of Acorn Creative. “If the company isn’t making a real connection with their target market, it doesn’t matter how well-designed their new website or print piece is, or how many more people hear about the company because of a new marketing element.

“If the company fails to build a consistent identity over time, the company is bound to fail. We don’t want that to happen. That’s why we step back and make sure the foundation is in place, and that’s what the ‘Go Nuts’ special report is really about.”

“We’re not exactly ‘quick fix’ people,” added Allen Voivod, also with Epiphanies, Inc. “Great business stories have three success factors in common: Building audience relationships, expert reputations, and client bases. None of that happens overnight.”

Because of their similar approaches to business development, Acorn and Epiphanies chose to focus on tactics for improving those success factors in their report. At the same time, they also lay out the underlying strategy behind Acorn’s design process …€“ a strategy that’s helped Acorn win “Best of the Web” honors from Forbes magazine for the last six years.

“The Secret to Making Your Business Go Nuts in 2007″ free special report, which explains the fundamental ideas behind Acorn’s business development strategy and seven ways a business can put those ideas into action for themselves, is available online through January 31st, 2007.

To access the report, and for instructions on how to secure one of 60 free consultations being offered by Acorn Creative in January 2007, go to www.gonutsin2007.com.

The ZList Makes the Rounds

Thursday, December 28th, 2006 by Chief Nut

I’m not one to jump on a band wagon but just about everyone who is someone in the brand and marketing space is sharing this ever growing list of blogs. It started with The Viral Garden last week and has made its way through to people like Seth Godin and Tom Peters. Seth even started a Zlist Plexo on Squidoo. Go ahead … grab the list, add your blog link and pass it on!

Seth’s Blog
Branding Strategy Insider
Nuts and Bolts of Branding
Epiphanies, Inc.
Creative Think
Soloride
Movie Marketing Madness
Blog Till You Drop!
Get Shouty!
One Reader at a Time
Critical Fluff
The New PR
Own Your Brand!
OTOInsights
bizandbuzz
Work, in Plain English
Buzz Canuck
New Millenium PR
Pardon My French
Troy Worman…€™s Blog
The Instigator Blog
AENDirect
Diva Marketing
Marketing Hipster
The Marketing Minute
Funny Business
Mindblob
Open The Dialogue
Word Sell
Note to CMO:
That…€™s Great Marketing!
Shotgun Marketing Blog
BrandSizzle
bizsolutionsplus
Customers Rock!
Being Peter Kim
Pow! Right Between The Eyes!
Billions With Zero Knowledge
Working at Home on the Internet
MapleLeaf 2.0
Two Hat Marketing
The Engaging Brand
The Branding Blog
Drew…€™s Marketing Minute
Golden Practices
Viaspire
Tell Ten Friends
Flooring the Consumer
Kinetic Ideas
Unconventional Thinking
Buzzoodle
Conversation Agent
The Copywriting Maven
Hee-Haw Marketing
Scott Burkett…€™s Pothole on the Infobahn
Multi-Cult Classics
Logic + Emotion
Branding & Marketing
Popcorn n Roses
On Influence & Automation
Bullshitobserver
converstations
eSoup
Presentation Zen
Dmitry Linkov
John Wagner
Nick Rice
CKs Blog
Design Sojourn
Frozen Puck
The Sartorialist
Small Surfaces
Africa Unchained
Perspective
gDiapers
Marketing Nirvana
Bob Sutton
Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!
Women, Art, Life: Weaving It All Together
Community Guy
Social Media on the fly
Jeremy Latham…€™s Blog
SMogger Social Media Blog
Masey.com

Brand Poetry

Wednesday, December 27th, 2006 by Chief Nut

If you love somebody,
Set her free…
If she comes back, she has brand loyalty
If she doesn’t, reposition the brand in new markets.

…€” Unknown

Get Fuzzy Name Game

Tuesday, December 26th, 2006 by Chief Nut

When my family was living in the San Francisco Bay area five years ago, we read the comics daily for ONE particular strip by genius Darby Conley.  It’s called Get Fuzzy.  Same formula as Garfield — stupid dog, bachelor owner, cat with a bad attitude — but take those attributes at put ‘em on steroids!  Although the formula is the same, Darby takes his characters to a whole new, fresh level.

On Christmas day, Bucky (the cat) decides he needs a “catch phrase”.  SEE! … even cartoon characters can get into The Name Game!  Looking at today’s strip, it might end up as a short series.  WOOO HOOOO!

 
 

 
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